The so called “Milk Carton” ad produced by VirtueMedia has appeared on CTV, and inappropriately attempts to use the once popular milk carton “missing children” campaign to misrepresent safe, legal abortion care. In addition to being distasteful, the ad violates several provisions of the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards:

Standard 1. (a) Accuracy and Clarity: Advertisements must not contain inaccurate, deceptive or otherwise misleading claims, statements, illustrations or representations, either direct or implied, with regard to any identified or identifiable product(s) or service(s).The ad contains inaccurate information about the legalization of abortion in Canada and makes deceptive and misleading claims about a safe, legal medical procedure.

Standard 9. Imitation: No advertiser shall imitate the copy, slogans or illustrations of another advertiser in such a manner as to mislead the consumer.VirtueMedia even states on their website that the “…milk carton has become a recognizable icon to display the photos of missing children…” and they are clearly copying this illustrative symbol in their ad to advance their anti-abortion agenda.

Standard 14. (c) Unacceptable Depictions and Portrayals: Advertisements shall not: demean, denigrate or disparage one or more identifiable persons, group of persons, firms, organizations, industrial or commercial activities, professions, entities, products or services, or attempt to bring it or them into public contempt or ridicule.

This campaign is another attempt to negatively depict women who choose abortion care.

Honour Canada’s long-standing tradition of protecting women’s health and tell Advertising Standards Canada that this deceptive advertising campaign has no place in Canada!

CANCELLED!

We are postponing our ‘Taking it to the streets’ event planned for today in Ottawa in light of the news that the debate and vote on M-312 will not be happening until the fall.

PLEASE take a moment to call, e-mail, fax, mail and/or visit your MP to demand that they vote NO on M-312. Remind them that you will be keeping up the pressure all summer long and will not let up until M-312 is defeated.

Please stay tuned for details on how we plan to strategize around not only M-312 but also the ‘Abortion Caravan’!

In Ontario, they are debating new anti-bullying legislation. A shockingly ‘controversial’ issue because it involves creating ‘Gay, Straight Alliances’ to curb homophobic based bullying.

But according to MP Maurice Vellacott, we need to talk about bullying… in the womb.

We kid you not.

Here’s what he had to say, in an official release:

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OTTAWA – We have seen a great deal of political support across Canada for anti-bullying initiatives in recent months. Governments and community groups across the country are discussing the serious harm experienced by the victims of bullying, including self-harm and suicide in some cases.

“It’s a good thing that people are openly discussing the harm caused by bullying, and considering strategies to address the problem,” says Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott (Saskatoon-Wanuskewin).

“In light of this new awareness of bullying, consistency and credibility demands that we tackle the most cruel and most common bullying of all – the bullying, and ultimately killing, of babies in the womb,” added Vellacott.

For decades now, technology has shown that babies in the womb pull away from foreign objects that penetrate the amniotic sac that is their home. They sense danger.

Scientific research is revealing an ever-younger age at which children in the womb feel pain. Dr. Steven Zielinski, an internal medicine physician from Oregon, is one of the leading researchers into fetal pain. He has testified that a child in the womb could feel pain at “eight-and-a-half weeks and possibly earlier.” (“Pro-Lifers Welcome First Fetal Pain Abortion Ban Lawsuit,” LifeNews.com, Sept. 1, 2011)

“Despite what we know about the child in the womb and despite what we know about fetal pain, Canada still does not ban the most gruesome abortion procedures in which the limbs and heads of babies are torn and cut from their bodies,” said Vellacott. “Canada’s abortionists are free to bully these unborn babies to death because Canada has no law protecting these helpless victims of this kind of bullying.”

“These procedures are far worse than any case of school-yard and neighbourhood bullying, and they always result in a dead victim,” added Vellacott.

“The womb is the place where the child should be the safest of all. Just because we’re bigger and stronger than these vulnerable babies in the womb, doesn’t make it right. Might doesn’t make it right,” emphasized Vellacott.

“At a time when Canadians are demanding community and political action to bring an end to the bullying of our children, it is vital in these anti-bullying strategies to address the lethal bullying of the child in the womb,” concluded Vellacott.

Thank you for writing to us with regards to Motion M-312. New Democrats oppose this motion.

M-312 proposes to establish a parliamentary committee to review criminal code subsection 223(1) which states that a child becomes a human at the moment of birth, which is an indirect means to re-open the abortion debate.

During the 2006, 2008 and 2011 election campaigns, Stephen Harper stated that his government did not want to revisit the abortion issue. However, now that there is a Conservative majority—and Stephen Woodworth has tabled motion M-312, there is reason to worry.

The Official Opposition believes in universal access to abortion services and guaranteed reproductive freedoms for all Canadian women, regardless of income or where they live. Abortion must remain a decision made between a woman and a health professional. Please be assured that we will continue to defend a woman’s right to choice.